Guide:Introduction to Alliance Battles
Alliance battle (abbreviated to AB most often) is a style of Player versus Player combat that guilds use to fight over territory in the later parts of the factions chapter, with the prospect of gaining control of capital of the Luxons (Cavalon) and the Kurzicks (House zu Heltzer), granting free access to the factions elite missions, The Deep for the Luxons and Urgoz's Warren for the Kurzicks. What is AB? Alliance battle is what bigger guilds and alliances use as their mean means of gaining either Luxon or Kurzick faction, depending on their guilds allegiance. They do this to try and gain control of towns and outposts with 5 towns or outpost on either side, when territory is balanced. By gaining control of a town or outpost you will gain access to areas that no other people can go where you can receive discounts from merchants and buy fire works, and if you gain control of the capital even gain free access to the elite missions. AB affects the Kurzick-Luxon border, shown on the Canthan map as a dynamic blue/red line. The performance of each faction's battles periodically change the border, often pushing deep into opposing territory. Outposts may fall and be held by enemy alliances, although several staging areas -- such as the Unwaking Waters and the faction capitals of House zu Heltzer and Cavalon -- cannot be captured by the opposing faction. AB is played on 5 different maps, depending on how much one side is winning, there is a neutral map, a shallow Kurzick and Luxon map, and then a deep Kurzick/Luxon map. Each map will have 7 shrines which will spawn NPCs for whichever side controls the shrine, and more or less NPCs depending who's territory it is (more will spawn for the faction who's' territory it is). The game is played until one of the following conditions is met: *One side reaches 500 points. *One side captures and holds all 7 shrines for 60 seconds without a shrine being neutralized or captured. *All members of one side leave (this rarely happens) Points are gained by either killing enemies, or by capturing and holding shrines, you will gain 1 point every 7 seconds for each shrine your side holds. If you die in Alliance Battle you are automatically resurrected at either your base or the resurrection shrine if your side holds it, as such it is advised not to bring any form of resurrection skill into battle as it is a waste of a skill slot. Scoring Points There are two ways to score points in alliance battles. The first is to take control and hold shrines. Doing so will provide your team with 1 point every 7 seconds per shrine held. The other method of scoring points is to simply kill other players. Killing a player will give your team 3 points. Tactics Setting up a Team While there are no perfect teams for AB it is suggested that you set up your team depending on whether you intend to be an offensive, defensive, or capping team. Offensive If you're intending to have an offensive team build it is suggested that you run a build that can either spike (air or certain water eles, ancestor's rage rits etc.), or that can cause mass AoE damage (generally fire eles, SSs' or MMs'). Burst assassins are also exceedingly popular for their ability to quickly dispatch unprotected targets, which is useful to eliminate threats to your team quickly. Defensive This team build is used mainly to guard your currently captured shrines, and stop them being taken by the enemy, this build should have at least one monk to keep your team alive, the other 3 tend to be anything you want but at least one spiker is advised and one AoE damager. Capping Specialised shrine-capturing groups should contain one or more nukers to quickly clear out shrine NPCs and equip themselves with self-survival skills and running skills to take over shrines as fast as possible. Cap groups focus on speed and will usually avoid combat whenever possible. Builds If entering with an organised pick-up group, it is advisable to take a build capable of both assisting a team and capping solo. This can be similar to a split build for GvG. The following builds are just examples ideal for these situations: *R/Mo Burning Arrow Ranger *A/Mo Moebius Breeze Alternatively, if you join with a group you know will stay together, a wider variety of less self-sufficient builds can be effective: *R/Mo Cripshot *N/D Heir to the Master *Mo/A Shadow Arts Zealous Healer *A/E AoD Shock Sin *E/any Shatterstone Support *W/E Shock Axe *W/E Conjure Cripslash I Category:AB Guides